Haunted Places on Vancouver Island

With Halloween coming up soon, I thought it would be fun to round up the most alleged haunted places on Vancouver Island. The following list was gathered from research on well-known sites that people generally accept to be haunted. The post is merely for entertainment use, and I intend to neither prove nor disprove the existence of ghosts or any other paranormal activity. It is up to you to decide whether you believe the following stories to be true.

10 Places to Spot a Ghost on Vancouver Island

Haunted Victoria

Victoria is known for being the most haunted city in BC, and many businesses fully embrace this title as a draw for tourists. There are ghostly walking tours and ghost bus tours available for your enjoyment. For the sake of this post, let’s take a look at a few of the more famous haunted places in Victoria.

#1. Bastion Square and Helmcken Alley

This particular area is said to be Victoria’s most haunted, as almost every building and alleyway around this historic square has a ghost story or two. Many years ago, there was a jailhouse located on Helmcken Alley. The area is now home to ghosts of prisoners who were tossed into the jail’s graveyard and forgotten about. The most prominent spirit who frequents the alley is a man in old prison attire, with chains shackled to his wrists and ankles. There have also been several reports of people hearing rattling chains while walking around the square.

Sources:

• Discover the Past
• Tourism Victoria
• Ghosts and Legends of Bastion Square by John D. Adams (2002)

#2. Rogers Chocolates

Located on Government Street, this chocolatier is famous for more than its deliciously decadent chocolates. The store is said to be haunted by its original owners, Charles and Leah Rogers. Apparently, they haunt the kitchen after the building is locked up for the night. There are tales of staff finding trails of chocolate strewn across the floor when they arrive in the morning, even though everything was put away and cleaned up the night before. There have also been sightings of an unexplained child’s handprint mysteriously appearing on a mirror located high above the entrance door.

Sources:

• British Columbia Magazine
• Travel in BC (blog)
• Discover the Past

#3. Empress Hotel

Built between 1904 and 1908, the Empress Hotel is the most famous structure in Victoria and the oldest. And with age comes many ghost stories and tales. Several ghosts wander the halls of this historical landmark. I haven’t heard whether or not the ghosts continued to stay through the most recent renovations. 😉

The unwanted occupants include:

• An elderly woman in pyjamas who knocks on guests’ doors
• The hotel’s architect, Sir Francis Rattenbury, who wanders around with his cane
• A construction worker, who hung himself during a restoration in the late 1950’s
• Lizzie McGrath, a chambermaid who died at the hotel in 1910, has been spotted on several occasions still cleaning rooms on the sixth floor
• A little girl who haunts one particular room

Sources:

• Reader’s Digest 
• West Coast Living Canada (blog) – Make sure to read the comment section of this particular post, for there are even more ghost stories from the Empress Hotel
• Flight Centre Travel Blog 

#4. St. Ann’s Academy

Located on Humbolt Street, this 158-year-old historic site was once Victoria’s first Roman Catholic Cathedral. In 1974, the Public Works Department of the BC government purchased the building from the Sisters of St. Ann, and it was used as office space. The site suffered years of minimal maintenance, and the City of Victoria eventually condemned the building. It was later restored and renovated in the late 1980s and is now available for public use.

This former convent school is said to be haunted by the nine nuns who are now buried in the cemetery on the property.  As well, the ghost of Emily Carr, Victoria’s famous artist and writer, has also been seen wandering the grounds.

It might be of interest to note that Emily Carr’s ghost frequents other locations around Victoria, including her home at 207 Government Street, as well as James Bay Inn.

Sources:

• Where: Canada’s Travel Planner
• British Columbia Magazine
• Paranormal Victoria

#5. Craigdarroch Castle 

This prominent castle, owned by a wealthy Scottish immigrant named Robert Dunsmuir, was built in the shadow of tragedy. Four months into construction (starting in 1887), the castle’s architect, Warren Williams, died of an enlarged heart.

Then In 1889, with the completion of the castle still one year away, Dunsmuir mysteriously died from a terrible cold. Five months later, Dunsmuir’s 2nd daughter died of the Typhoid Fever that had ripped through Nanaimo.

Plenty of paranormal activity has been reported at Craigdarroch Castle. In fact, it has been said that the odd visitor to the castle will get such an uneasy feeling upon entering, they decide to walk straight back out again.

Here are some of the more frequent sightings:

• Faint piano music heard in certain rooms
• Sightings of a woman dressed in a white ball gown on the main staircase
• A young girl roaming in the basement
• Objects that move on their own
• A strong smell of candle wax first thing in the morning, even though no candles had been burning

Sources:

• Huffington Post
• Global News
• Ghost Stories of British Columbia by Jo-Anne Christensen (1996)

#6. Hatley Castle

This beautiful National Heritage Site is located in Colwood, in the Greater Victoria area. Completed in 1908, Hatley Castle was built for James Dunsmuir, a former politician and lieutenant governor of BC (and son of Robert Dunsmuir mentioned above). The castle was home to the family until the late 1930s.

In 1940 the estate was purchased by the Dominion Government to be used as a Naval Training Academy and College until 1995. It was then turned over to Royal Roads University and is used as their administration office. The castle houses the President, Vice-President, the Managers of Finance and Facilities, and the administrative support staff for Royal Roads University…and, not to mention, a few unwanted guests.

There have been numerous sightings of ghosts at the castle, and it is said to be haunted by its former residents, the Dunsmuir family. Many of the sightings happened when cadets still had dorm rooms in the castle.

There are tales of an old woman grasping onto a foot of one of the cadets; stories of seeing a crying girl who would mysteriously float out towards the sea; and the ghost of a young maid who died while employed by the Dunsmuirs’.

More recent sightings and phenomena include hearing the chime of a bell that isn’t there and the opening and closing of doors and windows on their own. One of the more eerie stories is about a ghost following a family home after visiting the castle (read the Vancity Buzz article linked below).

Sources:

• Royal Roads University
• Creepy Canada (YouTube video)
• Vancity Buzz (ghost story)

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Haunted Cowichan Valley

#7. Old Stone Butter Church 

This long-abandoned stone structure was built in 1870 by Father Peter Rondeault, a Roman Catholic missionary. It was built high on the hill of the Comiaken Indian Reserve with the help of the local Cowichan native tribe. The helpers were paid through the sale of butter churned by the priest – hence the name.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not once did a piece on this church, stating it was never officially used and that every worker who helped build the church died mysteriously. That story is not true, for the church was used quite exclusively for ten years until the new St. Ann’s Church at Tzouhalem was built in 1880.

Over the last 140 odd years, it has been repeatedly vandalized and has developed a reputation for being haunted. There are stories of ghosts following people home, strange sounds within the church, and eerie feelings of being watched while wandering around the grounds.

Sources:

• YouTube Video
• Cowichan Culture
• Toad Hallow Photography (for eerie photos)

Haunted Nanaimo

#8. Newcastle Island

Newcastle Island is located via a short boat ride away from the Nanaimo Harbour and has the reputation of possibly being the most haunted island in the Pacific Northwest. The small island was used as a smallpox colony in the early 1800s, resulting in a few deaths. In 1887, a massive explosion trapped and killed 150 miners in the coal shafts underneath Newcastle Island. Their bodies were never recovered.

Kanaka Pete

The most famous piece of history, however, is of Kanaka Pete.

As the story goes, Peter Kakua, a Hawaiian immigrant labourer (known as Kanakas), worked as a coal miner in Nanaimo. He met and married his wife, Que-en, who was of aboriginal descent, and together they had a daughter. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Que-en decided to leave Peter and threatened to take their baby with her. In a state of grief, Peter drowned his sorrows in booze. Later that night, and in a drunken stupor, he came home to find his beloved wife in bed with her father.

In a fit of rage, Peter wielded an axe and killed his wife, their daughter, his father-in-law, as well as his mother-in-law. Realizing what he had done, he attempted to escape to Vancouver by canoe, first stopping on Newcastle Island. This is where he was captured. He was later hung at Gallows Point on Protection Island and was buried in an unmarked grave on Newcastle Island.

It is said that Kanaka Pete haunts the east side of Newcastle Island, and his ghost has been seen on the beaches at dusk. His unhappy spirit has been rumoured to be responsible for the disastrous mine explosion in 1887.

There are also a few stories of people disappearing from Newcastle Island after going to the far side at night.

Sources:

• Tourism Nanaimo
• Haunted North America
• Shaw TV (YouTube video)

#9. Beban House

The Beban House is well known for its hauntings.

The log-sided mansion, which sits on 160 acres on Bowen Road, was built by leading timber baron Frank Beban in 1930.  A year after Mr. Baron’s death (in 1952), the estate was purchased by the City of Nanaimo. But for 35 years, the house was neglected to the point of it possibly being demolished.

In the early 1990’s it was decided the architectural style of the house was unique to Vancouver Island, and it was listed on the historical register.

In more recent years, the house has been used as a daycare, a mobile office for the RCMP, and home to Tourism Nanaimo. Most recently, it was the home of the local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club, as well as the current office of the Nanaimo Clippers. The hauntings centre around a young Chinese servant who was accidentally killed in the house while employed by the Beban family.

Unexplained phenomenon at Beban House includes:

• Hearing a ball bounce down the stairs late at night
• A cupboard in Frank Beban’s trophy room that would open on its own, and refuse to close
• Filing cabinet drawers opening on their own
• Keys going missing
• Locked doors and windows opening on their own
• Sounds of teacups clanking
• Chatter being heard when the house was empty
• Children playing with a small boy whom adults cannot see (sightings happened while the daycare inhabited the house)
• Water taps turning on by themselves
• An apparition of a woman
• A cat escaping a locked room
• A strange and eerie feeling of being watched when entering the basement

Sources:

• Prairie Specters
• Nanaimo Bulletin
• If More Walls Could Talk: Vancouver Island’s Houses from the Past by Valerie Green, Lynn Gordon-Findlay (2004)

Haunted Qualicum Beach

#10. The Qualicum Heritage Inn

The Qualicum Heritage Inn has a rich haunted past.

It was originally operated as a boy’s college and built by Robert Ivan Knight in 1937.  In 1949, it was renamed Qualicum College and continued to operate as an education centre until the 1970s. After that, and until 2008 it was operated as an Inn. Most recently, the building was restored and renovated by developers as luxury condos. Funny enough, the new developers don’t disclose that the building is suspected to be haunted.

The majority of the hauntings occurred while guests were staying at the Inn, and the reported activity is long:

• The ghost of a little boy heard crying or playing in the hallways
• Footsteps moving in the corridors when no one is there
• Heard from the fourth floor, reports of moans, mysterious voices, cries, chanting, and laughter
• Lights going on and off by themselves
• The ghost of a woman
• A ghost who would throw things and make messes was seen so frequently by staff he was nicknamed Buddy
• Furniture that moved on its own
• A TV that turned on by itself
• Strange dreams that haunted guests
• The ghost of a man in an old-fashioned military uniform
• Frightening sounds
• A piano playing by itself
• Sounds of people running and doors slamming when no one was present

Sources:

• Toad Hallow Photography
• Living Library (this blog has many posts about haunted places on Vancouver Island)
• Keira-anne.com (blog)

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Books you may enjoy:

If you are looking for Halloween related activities, read this article:

Halloween on Vancouver Island

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Have you ever experienced anything spooky at any of the above-mentioned places? Share your stories of the most haunted places on Vancouver Island in the comments below. 

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